Message from the president

 
Dear Colleagues,
I wish you happy holidays and an inspiring 2009. As the new president of the International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS), I would like to provide you with an update on recent developments in our academic society, which was established in 1967.
Primarily, I would like to thank the outgoing 2006-2008 Executive Committee of ISIS: Dr. Nasrin Rahimieh, Dr. Janet Afary, Dr. Homa Katouzian, Dr. Mansour Bonakdarian, and Dr. Touraj Daryaee. Under the leadership of President Rahimieh, the Executive Committee played a significant role in institutionalizing ISIS and overseeing the organization of the Seventh Biennial Conference. Among these colleagues Dr. Bonakdarian played a critical role in directing the very successful biennial conference in Toronto. Dr. Katouzian has done an exceptional job of enhancing the quality of Iranian Studies and in initiating the Iranian Studies Book Series. I am grateful to these colleagues for their exemplary efforts on behalf of ISIS.
The incoming 2008-2010 Executive Committee consists of the following colleagues:

  • Homa Katouzian, Editor of Iranian Studies
  • Val Moghadam, Treasurer
  • Nasrin Rahimieh, Past-President
  • Rivanne Sandler, Executive Director
  • Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, President

 
The 2008-2010 Committee will continue the earlier efforts of our colleagues to institutionalize, to internationalize, and to professionalize ISIS. With your active and generous support we intend to establish a permanent administrative office for ISIS. With the frequent change of our elected officers, a permanent office will enable us to secure the administrative continuity of our independent academic society.
Furthermore, it is my pleasure to announce the ISIS 2008 election results. Dr. Houchang Chehabi (Boston University) has been elected as the new ISIS President-Elect. Following the November 2010 annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), Dr. Chehabi will assume his 2-year term as the President of ISIS. In the meantime, he will serve as a member of the ISIS council as President-Elect.
The new elected ISIS council members are Dr. Negin Nabavi (Montclair State University), Dr. Firoozeh Papan-Matin (University of Washington), and Dr. Ali Asghar Seyed-Ghorab (Leiden University). They will serve on the council until November 2010.
In addition to these newly-elected colleagues, the current members of ISIS Council are:

  • Camron Amin, University of Michigan-Dearborn
  • Homa Katouzian, University of Oxford
  • Mana Kia, Harvard University
  • Paul Edward Losensky, Indiana University
  • Valentine Moghadam, Purdue University
  • Nima Naghibi, Ryerson University
  • Nasrin Rahimieh, University of California-Irvine
  • Dan Sheffield, Harvard University
  • Rivanne Sandler, University of Toronto

 
As the site of the first conference of the Society for Iranian Studies in 1969, Los Angeles was chosen by the ISIS Council as the location for the 2010 Iranian Studies Biennial Conference. It is with great pleasure that I announce the selection of Dr. Hossein Ziai of UCLA as the Conference Chair and Dr. Marta Simichieva of York University as the Program Chair for the Eighth Biennial Conference. The conference will take place on 27-30 May 2010.
Please see the conference page for the call for papers for the Eighth Iranian Studies Biennial Conference. Due to the complications of securing visas for conference participants, the deadline for the submission of proposals is May 1, 2009.
I look forward to hearing from you and working with you on advancing ISIS as a premier scholarly society devoted to the promotion of all aspects of Iranian Studies.
Best Wishes
Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi President of the International Society for Iranian Studies